Cleantech And The Green Energy Economy

Cleantech is not dead, notwithstanding the recessionary global economy and constricted sources of funds.

The term "cleantech" refers to products or services that improve performance, productivity or efficiency while reducing costs, consumption of energy and resources, and waste and pollutants. Related to cleantech is the concept of "renewable" energy, that is, energy produced by the use of resources that are not thereby depleted.

Globally, three main drivers promise to make cleantech a major force in 2009. First, climate change is widely accepted as fact; it is no longer the sole preoccupation of environmentalists. Second, world populations continue to increase, driving up the consumption of natural resources and, at an equal or greater rate, carbon emissions. Third, ongoing access to oil and gas is unstable and unpredictable, and the resources are finite thus spurring initiatives to enhance the development of alternatives to fossil fuels.